A yearlong sting operation involving a multitude of state and federal agencies brought to justice Wednesday a dangerous ring of raw dairy enthusiasts in California.

Los Angeles police yesterday arrested a farmer, one of her employers and the owner of a raw foods store on criminal conspiracy charges stemming from their allegedly illegal production and sale of unpasteurized milk, cheese and other nefarious dairy products.

Sharon Palmer, 51, James Cecil Stewart, 64, and Eugenie Victoria Bloch, 58, were all charged in a thirteen-count complaint, which includes "the felony crime of processing milk without pasteurization" and four counts of conspiracy. Arraignments were scheduled for today.

Stewart is the owner of Rawesome Foods, a private buying club that offers customers raw milk and cheese, in addition to other products. State agents raided his store yesterday and seized or destroyed his entire inventory.

"In total, it looks like they took $30,000 to $50,000 worth of food," said one Rawesome member in a video interview. "They backed up a twenty foot truck with a flatbed, and they filled it up with food. It was full when they left here, and you could see watermelons, coconuts, fresh produce that James had just bought this morning. They took it away. That truck was full. And when we came back in, they had double padlocked all the locks, and everything was bare."

The Food and Drug Administration contends raw milk can carry harmful bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria. It's lawful to manufacture and sell unpasteurized dairy products in California, but certain licenses and permits are required. Stewart and Palmer, the owner of Healthy Family Farms, allegedly didn't have those permits.

According to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, law enforcement agencies launched a yearlong sting operation when they caught wind of Stewart's and Palmer's illicit cheese.

"Investigators made undercover purchases of unpasteurized dairy products from Healthy Family Farms stands at Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara county farmers markets and at Rawesome," a county D.A. press release read. "The products included unpasteurized goat milk, cheese, yogurt and kefir."

Government agencies participating in the operation include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the California Franchise Tax Board; the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Milk and Dairy Food Safety Branch and the department's Division of Measurement Standards; the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office; the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health; the Ventura County Sheriff's Department; the Ventura County Department of Public Health; the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.

This is not the first government action in recent months to crack down on producers of raw dairy products. Earlier in the year, federal agents raided an Amish farm in Pennsylvania for selling unpasteurized milk.

Most of you know by now that multiple agencies of the federal government raided Rawesome Foods yesterday in Venice, California. FDA, CDC, Dept. of Agriculture-along with LA County Sheriffs. Armed sheriffs.

The whole story, and vital updates, can be found on Natural News at this [Link]
According to reports, the terms of the warrant were ignored and, instead of taking samples of raw milk and cheese for lab analysis, the entire inventory of Rawesome was taken or destroyed.

This is all about a government attack against selling raw unpasteurized milk. The conflict has been going on for at least 60 years.

Three people were arrested and taken to jail in the raid. Their bail is high, much higher than you would expect.

All records and computers of Rawesome were also seized.

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This raid is about several things--

The federal government crackdown on food and their need to control it, which is part of an overall strategy to stamp out the small grower and the small farmer, so that all food in this country is produced by mega-agra corporations, and is genetically modified.

The clout of the dairy industry and its lobbyists.

And, because Rawesome is not an ordinary retail outlet, but a PRIVATE buyer's club, whose members agree to operate outside the federal government's rules and regulations on food safety, the club poses a distinct threat to the government octopus - and not just in the food sector.

ANY private association of citizens which, by virtue of its internal agreements, honors CONTRACT above LICENSE, has found its way back to the original intent of the Republic.

And as far as the government is concerned, that must not be allowed to stand.

You see, if you and I sign a contract which permits us to deal with each other in our own chosen way, with no reference to government, we are DECENTRALIZING. This is the point.

Government, on the other hand, wants to control and issue licenses giving conditional rights to us, for every activity under the sun.

You and I, for instance, can agree to "practice medicine" with each other.
We can a sign a contract to that effect. By that contract, you can treat my lower back with a medicine you invent - a medicine the FDA has not certified (licensed). We have found a way around the regulators and the lawmakers. And we are responsible. There will be no law suits and no complaints, no matter what the outcome.

And that way is at the heart of what the Republic IS. Or was, until the feds decided, long ago, that control was the objective of society.

Were hundreds of thousands of private "clubs" to spring up in the US, along many lines, the decentralization of power and the taking back of individual responsibility would direct a lethal effect against federal power.

This is why Rawesome was raided in such an overwhelming and unconscionable way yesterday.

The government doesn't want you or I to be responsible for our own choices and decisions. They know what lies ahead on that road. The dawning of a new day, in which the tonnage of regulations designed to ensnare us in the web is irrelevant, is itself a lie, is seen as an illusion and nothing more.

We would be able, along many fronts, to opt out of the system.

Private contracts assume and breed self-responsibility.

The system of government-issued licenses breeds dependence.

Government and their media allies WANT YOU TO THINK THAT THE VERY IDEA OF PRIVATE CITIZENS MAKING THEIR OWN CONTRACTS AND AGREEMENTS WITH EACH OTHER - OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES OF GOVERNMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS - IS ABSURD, DANGEROUS, AND A SIGN OF LOATHSOME PRIDE.

And you know what? They're succeeding.

The millions of little dependent androids they're creating are all too willing to meddle, snitch, and obey "the boss."

But the truth is, if the members of the Rawesome Buyer's Club want to purchase and drink raw milk, and don't care to consult or knuckle under to federal rules on the subject, that is their private right. They don't want government "protection." They have their own point of view. If other people want to buy pasteurized milk with growth hormones, fine. Rawesome is doing something else.

The government sees this as a threat that could undermine its drooling need for control.

Right now, the raid on Rawesome is taking place under the auspices of the FDA, CDC, and the US Dept. of Agriculture. I hope you understand these three agencies are part of the Executive Branch of the federal government. And that means the White House. And that means the president. For any of you who may think Barack Obama is the incarnation of The Second Coming, I suggest you take a step back. Decide whether your newfound religious conviction exonerates the president who, whether he knew about the raid before it happened, or only knows about it now, has the power to let it stand or make it go away. In this case, YES WE CAN means "yes, we can put a boot on your head and cancel your freedom to eat the food of your choice - even though we have that little showcase organic garden on the lawn of the White House."

Under Obama, the power and range and influence of genetically modified food is accelerating. That is what HIS new day looks like. How do you like it?

Take a moment, and separate whatever opinion you may have about the Rawesome buyer's club members, and their practices - separate that from their RIGHT to form their own association with their own objectives. Decide about that bigger picture. Because what you decide and what action you take based on it have a lot to do with what the future is going to look like.

I read in Natural News that the liquids were dumped down the drain. If it's so toxic, shouldn't someone report their actions to the EPA? This whole situation about controlling what people eat is stupid, so let's add more stupidity!

(NaturalNews)
Victoria Bloch was released from jail in LA County last night, but only under the condition that she completely give up her First Amendment rights and refrain from talking to anyone about the case. NaturalNews has confirmed this gag order was placed on Victoria and is also going to be placed on James Stewart and Sharon Palmer as a condition of their release (they are reportedly making bail today and may be home by this evening).

This gag order is, of course, an effort by the California court system to try to quell the rising tidal wave of public outrage against the armed government raids against a raw dairy farm and private buyer's club -- a raid that many people who witnessed it described, in their own words, as "government terrorism" against the People.

First, the government attempts to take away their right to engage in commerce and enter private contracts. Then, the government vandalizes this buying club, steals their cash, destroys their entire product inventory and steals the computers from the store. The owners (and conspiring farmers) are arrested at gunpoint and taken to jail without even being read their rights. And finally, to top it off, they are slapped with a gag order which prohibits them having their First Amendment rights so that they might tell their side of the story.

This is a total assault on freedom by the government.

NaturalNews has learned that under this gag order, these raw milk advocates are prevented from:

• Speaking to any member of the press.
• Tweeting or blogging about the raid.
• Posting anything on Facebook or websites.
• Sending emails about the case.
• Communicating in any way, verbally or non-verbally about the government raids conducted against them.